Tharisa Minerals has agreed to acquire certain existing mining equipment, strategic components, site infrastructure and spare parts from MCC Contracts, which are deployed at the Tharisa mine in South Africa.

The deal, which is valued at around ZAR303.3m, also included the transfer of employees from the mining contractor.

MCC, which is currently the mining contractor at the Tharisa mine, offers opencast contract mining services such as drilling, blasting, load hauling and rehabilitation.

MCC’s parent firm Extract Group has taken a strategic decision to adjust its capital allocation with the current mining environment, in addition to reviewing its business model.

Under the deal, Tharisa will acquire 153 yellow fleet machines, including excavators, off highway dump trucks, articulated dump trucks and support vehicles.

The deal also included the acquisition of 17 additional machines from another MCC site.

Tharisa will also accept assignment regarding the leased equipment, including drill rigs, excavators and off highway dump trucks. It will continue to lease these 14 machines.

According to Tharisa, the settlement amount for the leased equipment as of June this year is about ZAR100.2m ($7.3m), and it will fund the purchase consideration through a combination of a new bridge finance facility, OEM supplier finance, traditional banking facilities and available cash resources.

As per terms of the deal, around 900 on-site employees of MCC will be shifted to Tharisa, who will continue to work in their existing roles.

Tharisa Minerals has a large scale open pit operation in South Africa with an open pit life of 18 years and a further 40 years of underground mine extension.